Gemini - Book II
by Haryuu no Hanekata
Summary: After Ashtangi possess Sage, who's left? Read and find out. PS: People, GIVE ME CREDIT IF YOU USE AN IDEA OR WORK OF MINE!! PLEASE!!!
1. The Voices From The Walls...

  
  
Disclaimer: I own the concept of Ashtangi and Shanti, and anything related to them. I also own Seth and Arthur and anyone I   
didn't mention that is new in these chapters. AND PLEASE GIVE ME CREDIT IF YOU USE SOMETHING OF MINE LADY PANTHER!!!  
  
  
Book II - Shanti  
Chapter I -  
  
The Voices From the Walls Are Inside My Mind  
  
  
  
There were whispers of disease and decay fluttering about the room, although no one could hear them.   
A brief flash of lightning and its accompanied thunder shook the windows and rattled the floor. The instantaneous burst of   
lighting gave the one who needed it a quick glance at everything that lay before him.  
Great. Just don't trip and fall on your face this time.  
Dais wandered around the room, getting his feel of it. He hated not having good nocturnal vision, like Cale had.   
Maybe he could wake him up and ask for help.   
And get laughed at? Never!  
'I can make this,' he thought.   
His leg brushed the couch closest to the window. It was irritating having to stumble around, looking for a light   
switch. And this was getting him nowhere. Now, if he could just make it to the kitchen. Dais knew his way around the kitchen.   
As the lightning danced across the sky, it illuminated the room again. He was mere inches from a coffee table.   
He could've fallen right then and there. Good thing he didn't. Dais nodded to himself and proceeded onward, groping his way   
to the kitchen. He was almost there, when...  
"AARGH!!"  
Thump!  
Dais landed right on his face. How embarrassing. And just a few more feet and he would've been in the kitchen.   
Sekhmet chuckled behind him. He had good nocturnal vision. So why didn't Dais? It wasn't fair.  
"So, you tried yet again to make it to the kitchen, Spider-chan?"  
Dais grumbled into the carpet. "Shut up before I rip thy head off, Snake-boy!"   
Sekhmet chuckled again before returning to his room. He and the other ex-Warlords all shared the same house.   
It wasn't as bad as it seemed. Dais decided that this journey, this challenge that lay before him could wait another day.   
He didn't want to wake up in the morning with rug burn on his face.  
  
The next day, the sun was shining bright and early through the window, illustrating lively the spot on the carpet   
where one of their own took a fall that night. It was quite obvious, much to Dais' dismay.  
"What in heaven's name is that?" Anubis griped.  
There was a rather large space in the floor where the carpet had been forced forward, leaving a wide but short   
trail in the Berber.  
"Well, I saw...MMF!!" Sekhmet was cut off by Dais' hand smacking him in the face. That was evidence enough as to   
whom had created the indentation in the carpeting.  
"So, Spider made the skid! Nice going, Graceful!!" Cale laughed aloud.  
Dais cursed under his breath and hauled himself to the kitchen.  
  
Rowen paced about the living room in Mia's mansion, almost long enough to create a trail   
of worn floorboard in the carpet. Ryo huffed, his mind drawing a blank. It was one day after   
Yuli and Sage's disappearance, and no one could figure out what happened and where those   
two went. Rowen stood straight, snapping his fingers.  
"Hey, guys. We could go back over to the church! Maybe Arthur'll tell us something   
now. I mean, he was all weird last time...maybe he's in the mood to talk more."  
Sai came in from the kitchen holding a pot in his hand. He happened to overhear the   
discussion and nodded. "Sounds good to me," he said, "but let's all eat breakfast first,   
shall we?"  
Kento grinned as wide as a Cheshire cat and bounded into the kitchen.   
  
Sage all but giggled as he poked Arthur's petrified body with his long, elegant finger. Arthur didn't move,   
but the poking was entertainment enough for him. Sage smiled and kept poking as Yuli, his little puppet, sat in a corner   
like he was instructed.   
All was going according to plan.  
  
Cale grumbled to himself as he trudged past the last bookcase of the public library. He hated libraries...  
and he hated books. Reading was satisfactory every once in a while, but Anubis...He couldn't figure out how the red-head's   
eyes stayed in their sockets. Dais stood nearby with a book on, of course, spiders. He smiled as he flipped through   
the glossy pages like a child. Cale rolled his eyes and found a subtle corner,   
untouched by the presence of others. He sighed happily and sat down in the only chair available in his   
secluded spot. He cushioned his head in his tanned arms, smiling as he closed his eyes. Anubis   
sat, with his black reading glasses on, at a wooden table near a window. All the ex-Warlords   
were on the second floor of the public library.   
Anubis smiled and scribbled down more notes for his project on ancient history for the university.   
Now that he was freed from Talpa's control and the Dynasty was well taken care of by Kayura, he had more important   
matters to attend to. Teaching young children about the past was what seemed to him as a calling.   
An over-dramatized grunt made him look up from his notes and glare at the green-headed   
ex-Warlord in front of him. Sekhmet grinned happily at the other's annoyance and decided to feast   
upon it to the fullest.   
A deep bass voice greeted him with fangs and hooded eyes. "I found you something for your report."  
Sekhmet proudly dropped what seemed to be the New York phone directory in front of his face.   
Sekhmet beamed at his accomplishment and made it a mission to bother everyone else on this little 'outing'.   
He trudged off in search of more victims.  
Anubis rolled his eyes and stared in awe at the large, crimson leather-bound book   
on his table. In his workspace.   
'How Sekhmet finds these things...' Anubis rubbed his nose as he took off the reading   
glasses. 'Nevermind that. Sekhmet is just Sekhmet. Leave it at that...'  
Cale felt his heart flutter and blinked his eyes open. He stared straight into   
large, beady eyes. They blinked at him, and Cale knew who this was.   
"Sekhmet!!!"  
  
Mia sighed as she stared out the window of their green mini-van. The street was   
slate gray, as was the sidewalk. Traffic was light today and rain drops danced across the   
windshield in a light shower.  
Kento whined. "Are we there yet?"  
Rowen cursed. "No. Now will you shut up already?!"  
The van went silent for a moment, the only sound heard was made by the windshield   
wipers across the glass. Sai huffed.  
"We're here now..."  
He parked the van in the church's only parking lot. Surprisingly, no one else was   
there. And it was Sunday. Ryo dismissed it with a shrug.  
"C'mon, you guys. Let's go."  
  
Another giggle and a smile emerged in the darkness. Bright white teeth shone through   
pale skin and pink lips. Sage tossed his golden head and huffed. Arthur was out cold, scared   
almost half to death. Sage studied his body in amusement. Rough, unshaven features and a rounded belly.  
No wonder he was so easy to subdue. Sage rose his hand and turned to shine his teeth at Yuli.   
Yuli stood and walked slowly to his Master.  
"Now, child. Time for a part of your duty. You ready?"  
Yuli nodded, his eyes fixated on the wrought iron and rusted door to the secret room they were in.   
The Oriental rugs were torn and matted in one dark corner and Mary was torn from the wall. Sage smiled again.  
"Good. Here's what I want you to do..."  
  
Ryo walked up the black and white tiled stairs again, getting that horror film sinking   
feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned to face Kento and Rowen, who were fighting again.   
Sai was in-between them, trying to get them to stop, but having no such luck. They continued   
to fight until Ryo had to yell at them.  
"You guys! Enough!"  
All three stopped to stare at him in stunned silence. Ryo huffed and motioned them   
forward, through the glossed wooden doors of the church. They creaked and moaned with age as   
both Ryo and Kento had to push them open to gain entrance.  
All five stood in awe at the sight of the church as they came in...  
  
Yuli laughed. A short, childish laugh. He sat upon the Moon in the center of the church.   
He stared at the Ronins and Mia with only the interest Sage had told him to. He tilted his   
brown head and breathed slowly as Sai approached him.  
"Yuli! Yuli, are you alright?"  
The others came quickly behind him, gazing up in amazement. Yuli didn't understand   
what was so amazing. Death was, and so was the Reaper, but nothing here held any interest   
to his eyes. Everything here was old and boring.  
Yuli turned back to them in disgust.  
"What do you want?"  
  
  
Anubis huffed as he seated himself on the front steps of the public library, bent on glaring a hole through Cale's  
head. The blue-haired ex-warlord sighed, crossed his arms, and leaned against a stone pillar in front of the main doors   
to the library. He blinked and looked at Anubis.  
"It wasn't entirely my fault, you know. Try waking up to see big, beady eyes in your face..."  
This time, it was Sekhmet's turn to glare at him. "You didn't have to yell." He pouted.   
"And besides, you weren't doing anything anyway."  
"I was taking a nap!"  
"So?"  
"That's something!"  
They continued to bicker in front of the library until Dais yelled at them.  
"Enough! Let's just get going, alright? Before we get into more trouble than we're already in..."   
True to his word, Dais was right. They had gotten into much more trouble than even they had expected.   
Due to the constant yelling of two certain ex-Warlords, the other, rule-abiding ex-Warlords had gotten themselves  
kicked out of the library. Anubis huffed as the quartet climbed into their shiney blue Corvet.   
'I'll have my revenge....' thought Anubis angrily as he pulled the car into drive.  
  
'Yes....' a Spirit watched from above them, it's energy forcused on a force of Darkness. He was what   
was needed to be shielded and protected from the Darkness and the Death his rival could produce. And, no doubt, his  
rival had done the same to insure protection against the white-hot Light that he himself could produce. The Spirit  
knew the upcoming battle would not be an easily won battle, but a battle that HAD to be won. For Mother and Father's  
sake.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Light; Burning Into The Flesh of the Dar...

  
Chapter II -  
  
Light; Burning Into the Flesh of the Darkness  
  
  
Cale awoke with a start. He glanced over at his nightstand digital clock. It blinked at him with more emotion  
than he'd ever thought to convey to a machine. Its block red numbers indicated one in the morning. Cale shook the sweat  
from his midnight-blue head, watching lazily as it landed on his deep blue bedsheet. Swinging his tanned legs over the  
side of the bed, he somehow managed to scoot himself over to the balcony. He seperated the sheer black curtains with a   
careful hand, the sweet summer breeze blowing his locks of hair away from his face.  
'This isn't so bad. Lucky for me the sun's not up yet.....like I am...'   
He smiled to himself.  
'I wonder how the Ronins are doing...We haven't heard from them in a while now....'  
Something in his mind snapped and told him to look down into the street below him. They lived in a quiet suburb,   
with a green, flat field spread out in front of him like a dining cloth. He blinked, his keen eyes forcusing on small,  
shriveled little creatures that scurried around, apparently looking for cover. Their sounds were well hidden by the  
songs of crickets in the bushes around the house. He narrowed his eyes, leaning slightly on the wooden railing surrounding  
the balcony on which he stood. The creatures looked like....shriveled babies or something. Lively carcasses of what they   
could....or should...have been.  
Cale blinked, rubbing his eyes forcefully. He opened them again, seeing nothing but colored haze for the first few   
seconds. He kept blinking, the haze shifting out of his view. One of the creatures turned to look at him. It blinked its   
oversized black eyes at him, a brilliant blood-red ring surrounding an abyss of darkness. Not his kind of darkness. N-ot  
anymore.   
The summer breeze picked up, strewning dust and trash out into the streets below him. The creatures squealed, a few  
of them darting forward and down an alleyway, towards the more populated end of the city. The one that stared at Cale stayed  
behind, blinking at him as if he were some kind of omen...or a god...  
This time, this silent one screamed, revealing several rotting, brown teeth. And several that should have been in its  
head were missing, perhaps, and most likely, rotted out from eating human flesh for so long.  
'I smell so much blood in the air....Why?'  
It scampered away, maybe frightened by the prospect of the coming sun. Cale didn't like the idea of being fried to   
death like an egg on this deck either, so he retreated into the safety of his darkened, cool room. He lay himself back down   
on the soft velvet sheets, his mind swirling and searching for a logical answer to explain what it is he just saw out there.  
'I'll ask the others later....'  
His mind, spent on searching for answers, drifted off to sleep.  
  
'Two days....' thought a Spirit. 'I have two days left to prepare.....just two days....' It grinned mentally.  
'That's more than enough time....'  
  
Dais knocked his forehead against the wall as the telephone began ringing. He cursed softly to himself, rubbing the   
sore spot on his face while his hand reached out, tracing the wall for the phone. He cursed again as the phone rang a fourth   
time before he could find it. One blue eye snapped open, seeing the phone inches from his face. A third curse and he picked  
it up, sounding groggy to the person on the other end.  
"Hello....?"  
"Dais!! Dais, is that you?!" a voice persisted from the other end.  
"No, I'm Dolly Parton....who're you?"  
Another voice could be heard from behind whoever it was he was speaking to. It sounded like Kento.  
"Well, he does have the right hair...."  
Dais growled softly. The first voice must've heard it, for swearing and scuffling soon sounded from the other end   
of the phone, surprising Dais fully awake. He cleared his throat, gaining the first speaker's attention.  
"Sorry....Kento's being an idiot," the voice emphasized the word 'idiot' just for Kento's sake. It trailed off a bit,  
most likely in deep thought. Dais went about making breakfast while he waited.  
"Oh! Sorry again....this is Rowen. I was wondering if I can speak to Anubis..."  
"I dunno. Can you?" Dais grinned. He loved human speech errors.  
Rowen was silent for a moment. He corrected himself after a while. "MAY I speak with Anubis, please?"  
"Sorry, he's not up yet. You can speak to me, though. I'm the only one up at this hour..." Dais glanced over at a   
wooden clock that hung on the kitchen wall, above the table which he was preparing with plates and utensils. It lively chimed  
five in the morning. Dais shook his head. Sometimes he hated being the early bird of the quartet. He shifted his attention   
back to Rowen, who was waiting on the other end of the phone.  
"Well....I suppose maybe you could help. But since Anubis is kinda you guys' leader, he might be a bit more   
helpful..."  
Dais snorted. "Leader? He's just the one your shouts out orders and ideas. We decide whether or not to follow them.  
Anyway, I could do just a good of a job as he could. What do you need with the others?"  
Rowen paused. He knew Dais was good at reading people, he just didn't think he could do it that well through plastic,  
cords and metal. He shook his head and continued.  
"Could you tell the others that we want to hold a meeting at Mia's later today? It's really important..."  
Dais nodded. "Must be, for you to call this early in the morning..."  
Rowen sighed. "Sorry...I thought that maybe he would have been up this early....and I'm.."  
"Really worried? Why?"  
Rowen paused. He must be REALLY good through plastic.  
"It's Sage...first, he disappears, then he comes back home acting all strange. Then he AND Yuli disappear. We haven't  
seen Sage in at least a day, and we found Yuli at a church. He was all strange too, but then he fell asleep while he was   
talking to us, so we have him here at home again..."  
"This is strange...you want us to keep an eye out for Sage?"  
"You know, I have to admit it. You're good."  
Dais smiled. "I know I am."  
  
Cale winced painfully as his eyes slowly opened. He blinked, vaguely realizing where he was. In his room. He remembered  
now. But he had the strangest dream. His family...his parents were killed by his brother, brutally. He couldn't place the parents,  
for he remembered distictly that he was abandoned as a child. He had no parents, as far as he can remember. So, why a dream about  
someone else's parents? And why were these people killed?  
Why was he having these dreams? And why now?  
The fact that it was a strange dream that involved nothing he recognized was interesting enough. But something else  
tugged at the back of his mind. Somewhere, sometime, maybe, he did recognize the shifting figures his mind showed him. In the   
darkness, he may be able to remember. These parents...maybe from a past life...Dais told him once that a person could have dreams  
of a past life, and that he himself had had those kinds of dreams before. Cale paid no mind to them until now. First, the   
creatures running around outside, now these strange dreams....   
And Cale knew he had no brother.  
None of this was making any sense.  
Cale sat up in bed, covering his tanned face with strong hands against the rays of sunlight that had insisted on peeking  
through the curtains at this hour. He yawned, stretching. His nose picked up the scent of omelettes cooking from downstairs,  
and he knew the others could smell it too. He had better get there before the food was all gone.  
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, feet landing softly on the pale carpet. He walked slowly to his dresser,  
pulling a shirt from its recesses. He pulled it over his head, still imagining himself eating two or three of those omelettes  
he knew Dais could make so well. But before he could take another step towards the door leading out into the hall, his nose picked  
up a different scent.  
He smelled blood. Again.  
Cale turned to the balcony, where the curtains swayed lazily in the soft breeze. He walked curiously out into the   
morning sunrise, somewhat aware that he was still sensitive to the light. The rays pelted him all the could, but nothing happened.  
Cale blinked, looking at his arm curiously. He touched it, feeling no pain course through his nerves like he knew it should have.  
At five in the morning or so, he remembered distictly that the sun was strong enough to hurt him, but this time it did not. He  
knew he should have had burns, or at least discomfort. Maybe he was beginning to get used to the light...  
"No. I am protecting you..." a voice said from behind him.  
Cale's ears perked and he whirled around, seeing a shadowed figure on his bed. It swung its leg, one over the other.   
The figure gazed at him with glassy eyes, pale legs peeking out at him through the darkness. It tilted its head, its face  
still well hidden behind a curtain Cale could not see through.  
"Who....are you?! How did you get in here?" Cale growled.  
It laughed. The figure was laughing at him! Not an evil laugh of mockery, but one of pure humor. It raised its elegant  
hand, palm facing Cale, to cover its mouth. It stopped, that hand now covering its chest, palm to it. It blinked, deep pale  
eyes glowing slightly.  
Cale blinked in confusion. "Sage? Is that you...?"  
It laughed again. That elegant, smooth laugh of his. Cale knew it had to be a man, he could tell. His nose smelled  
blood on this figure. The same blood he smelled earlier. He persisted again.  
"Sage? Is that you?"  
"I ask you this, Warrior of Darkness. What smells of blood, but has none on him? What needs the darkness, but shares  
the light? What one person has a murderer in his midst?"  
Cale tilted his head. "I don't know, and I don't care. Go ask Dais riddles, and leave me alone!"   
He turned away from the figure, walking back out into the sunlight that bathed the balcony. He took several deep breaths,  
trying to clear his mind. He realized it might not have been such a good thing to leave that person unattended to roam the house.  
Cale whirled back around, to almost run right into the figure. He could see him clearly now, without the protection and cover  
of the darkness that covered his room. This person was not Sage, that was for sure.  
With dark hair like his and pale, ice blue eyes, the figure stood about Cale's height, easily eye-to-eye with the ex-Warlord.  
Cale blinked and backed up, preparing an attack in case the figure got violent.   
The figure tilted his head again, a slight smile playing across his elegant features. Barely dressed in nothing but  
white pajama pants, the figure walked up to Cale, placing his hand on Cale's shoulder.  
"Do not be afraid. Why would I hurt you? I need you."  
Cale cursed and tried to grab the figure's arm, but his hand passed right through it, a deep burning sensation filling   
his hand. Cale droppped to his knees, clutching his hand protectively to his body. He gasped, feeling the sensation of burning   
flesh cover his body. He refused to scream as a sizzling sound reached his ears. He scrambled from the opening to his room on  
his hands and knees, the burning becoming unbearable. The figure remained in his way. Cale cursed at him.  
"Why would I get out of the way for you? I told you. I need you. I will have you now."  
Cale's eyes went wide as the figure grabbed his hair, pulling him up to a standing postition in front of him. The figure  
pulled his head to the side, whispering delicately in Cale's ear.  
"I am Shanti. Embrace the light. Embrace me..."   
  
Sekhmet snorted for the third time in ten minutes. Anubis pushed a piece of omelette around his plate with his metal   
fork, his chin resting on his other hand. Dais twirled his silvery, curled hair around one pale finger. Sekhmet looked at the  
clock above them. It chimed seven in the morning.  
"Where is he? Maybe he's still asleep..."  
"No, he should've smelled my omelettes. He's never late for those."  
"Maybe he's taking a shower."  
Two voices answered. "We'd hear it."  
"Oh yeah..."  
Sekhmet stared at the wooden kitchen table. He counted all the weird lines in it. One, two, three...what comes after  
three? Oh yeah....four, seven....twelve...  
"Sekhmet!"  
He looked up. "What?"  
"Go upstairs and check on him." Anubis all but ordered.  
Sekhmet pouted. "Why me?"  
"Because you're the stupid one! I don't know! Just go and quit complaining..." Anubis rubbed his temples in emphasis.  
Sekhmet huffed, getting up from his comfortable seat and trudged up the carpeted stairwell to his friend's bedroom.  
  
  
  



	3. Is Something Wrong?

  
Chapter II, part II -   
  
Is Something Wrong?  
  
  
"Booya....magazines...." Sekhmet smiled to himself. Everything was everywhere. Cale's room was a complete and utter  
mess. He wasn't sure how it could have gotten so messy without anyone hearing it, but he really didn't care at this point. He  
searched through piles upon piles of clothing and debris for a section of a car ad that was torn from the magazine he was   
holding. He sifted through a pile of picture frames that had been pulled from the wall. He huffed, not finding anything but   
glass that cut his hands. He stood, surveying the room.  
Everything that had hung on the wall was torn off or something was thrown at it. Glass was everywhere, the bed was torn  
apart. Literally. Mattress springs and pillow fluff littered the area around the bed, which was in the middle of the room. Curtains   
were ripped to shreds, the wooden railing around the balcony was gone. The carpet looked like it had been caught on fire. Burned  
footprints led a trail to the only thing in the room that hadn't been touched.  
A wall mirror.  
Sekhmet walked up to it curiously, tilting his green head. The wheels in his head turned slowly.  
"I wonder why this didn't get broken...?" he wondered aloud.  
He wandered up to the mirror, examining it like a child. He touched it with his finger, then lifted it up, shaking it.  
He tilted his head again. It was amazing Cale didn't hit THIS. With everything torn from the wall and everything that was glass   
shattered, one would think he wouldn't miss something quite this big. Sekhmet shrugged.  
'Maybe he liked it too much to break it. And the others call ME weird...'  
He sniffed the air, his nose picking up the bittersweet scent of burning flesh. He turned around, noticing for the   
first time a young boy's body out on the balcony. Midnight blue hair swayed silently in the wind as Sekhmet approached. The boy  
looked only about sixteen or seventeen. He was very pale, dressed in only white pajama pants. Sekhmet gingerly turned the boy  
over, examining him for wounds. He still smelled burning flesh, but not on this boy.  
Sekhmet poked him. "Boy? Are you alright, kid?"  
The body stirred, moaning slightly. The boy sat up, looking around quickly like a small, frightened mouse. The boy turned  
around, facing Sekhmet. He looked the strange, green-haired man up and down before wailing like a banshee and quickly backing up   
towards the edge of the balcony. Sekhmet grabbed him before he could fall. The boy still screamed.  
"Will you HUSH? I'll get in trouble if the others get up here!" Sekhmet huffed.  
The boy blinked at him. "Others? You mean there're OTHER lizard dudes runnin' around? How the hell did I get up here?!  
Let me go!" He struggled against Sekhmet's iron grip.  
Sekhmet huffed again, dragging the boy inside the room, setting him down on the torn bed. He knelt in front of the boy,  
blinking at him. It was interesting how similar this boy was to Cale. And he wondered how this boy could've gotten up here   
without anyone, especially Cale, knowing about it. Sekhmet shrugged, more to himself than to the boy.   
"Now, before you go screaming again," a deep bass voice said, "I want to clear up something. Understand?"  
The boy nodded slowly.  
"Good. First of all....I am most certainly NOT a lizard! I am a snake! Got it?!"  
The boy nodded again, gulping down the knot in his throat.  
"Okay." Sekhmet sat down, crossing his legs. "Now, do you know where you are?"  
The boy shook his head.  
"I didn't think so. Do you know how you got up here?"  
Another shake of the head.  
"Hmm..." Sekhmet trailed off in thought. The boy shifted his weight on the bed uneasily, surveying the room. He didn't  
know whether the snake/lizard guy trashed his own room, or whether this was his room at all. He'd rather go home and wake up  
in his own bed, all of this having been a dream. Of course, by the look of things, it was turning out to be a very strange   
day...  
Sekhmet shook his head. A strange sensation tickled his senses, drawing his attention to the wall mirror. He blinked,   
walking over to it. The boy followed, drawn to the mirror as well. Sekhmet looked it over a second time, stepping back and  
away from it to get a better look.   
What puzzled them both was the fact that no reflection of themselves was in the mirror. Sekhmet couldn't see himself  
in it. The boy knelt in front of it, touching it with a pale hand.  
"This is weird..." he said.  
"Very."   
The boy tilted his head. "Why the hell-"  
'Is something wrong, Sekhmet...?'  
Sekhmet blinked at the boy. "What?"  
"I didn't say anything."  
"You asked me a question, though."  
"No I didn't. I don't even know your name." the boy insisted.  
Sekhmet blinked again. "Then....who asked me...?"  
"I dunn-"  
'Seth, is something wrong?'  
The boy stood up, facing Sekhmet. "What?"  
"I didn't say anything."  
They both stood in confusion, staring at each other. They both looked back to the mirror. Sekhmet pointed to it.  
"Do you think...?"  
They both gulped, kneeling back in front of the mirror. Sekhmet touched it again, then turned to the boy.  
"So, your name is Seth?"  
"Yeah. And you're Sekhmet?"  
The green-headed man nodded.   
"What kinda weird-ass name is that?!"  
A low growl was emitted through clenched fangs.  
"Heh...I mean...."  
  
"What's taking him so long?" White hair swayed through elegant fingers.  
"How should I know?" Red hair like fire was pulled with strong hands.  
  
"So, is this some kinda trick mirror or somethin'? Somethin' magicians use?" Seth poked the mirror again.  
Sekhmet shrugged. "I dunno. Cale wasn't the trickster type anyway..."  
"Cale? Who's that, a buddy of yours?"  
"You could say that, yes. He was the one I was SUPPOSED to find in this room."  
"Oh. 'stead, you found me."  
"Unfortunately..."  
"Hey!"  
  
"Want to go up there?"  
"No, not really."  
"You too lazy?"  
"Shut up!"  
A short laugh followed.  
  
"Where d'you 'spose your buddy is?"  
"How should I know? I'm not his babysitter!"  
"Okay! Okay! Sheesh..."  
Sekhmet sighed heavily and turned back to the mirror, examining it for the third time that morning. He tilted his head,  
sniffing it. Maybe he was just not fully awake or something. Maybe he was imagining things. But with Seth to back up what he   
had been seeing, that was highly unlikely. He blinked, seeing a tanned pair of legs walk behind him in the mirror. Sekhmet  
whirled around.  
"Cale?"  
No one was behind him.  
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Seth asked.  
"I thought I saw someone..."  
Seth turned back to the mirror, eyes widening as he saw a reflection, clearly not his, appear where he should've seen  
himself. With tanned skin, a large scar and purely white eyes, a face that should've been his own blinked at him. It smiled,   
turning itself upside down in the mirror. The head was just that, a head. Not attached to a body. Seth quickly backed up,  
pushing up against Sekhmet.  
"Hey, what're you..."  
Sekhmet saw the face, which righted itself and was now turning itself inside-out.  
"Uh...Sekhmet?" Seth asked as the lips pulled themselves apart, stretching the skin up and over the nose. Seth swore   
how could see veins, still pumping lively with blood, pop out of its forehead. Hair was disappearing and pink muscles and   
white teeth were becoming plentilful.  
"Yeah...?" came a shaky reply as they both backed up.  
"Izzat your....buddy?"  
Sekhmet gulped loudly. "I...hope not...."  
The head seethed, lidless eyes staring blankly out at them. It seemed to be getting bigger as it opened and closed its  
jaw, veins still pumping blood to its brain. It got bigger....and bigger....and bigger....  
  
"He sure does take a long time..."  
"That's Sekhmet for you..."  
  
It was actually coming OUT of the mirror now. Stretching out of its glass depths, a long neck that seeped out and out  
to them, came the head. It coiled up in places, revealing blue and purple veins that still pulsed life fluid to whatever was   
making this apparition move. In one long, fluid movement, it was mere inches from Sekhmet's face. Seth hid behind him, shaking  
like an earthquake had ripped through his body. The head spoke now, complete with Cale's voice.  
"Hello Sekhmet. Is something wrong....?"  
They both screamed as loud as their throats would allow. Sekhmet grabbed Seth by the arms and made a mad dash for the   
door. All but ripping the door off its hinges, they both nearly jumped down the stairs. The head turned, its toothy grin turning  
into a frown and its hairless eyebrows pulling together in a look of ghastly confusion. It tilted, looking at the door that had   
closed on the pair's way out. It broke through the door, seeping out into the stairwell. It called down into the kitchen.  
"Sekhmet? Is something wrong?"  
  
"What the hell?!" Dais lept out of the way of the oncoming duo as they careened under the kitchen table, knocking it over.  
They sat behind it, acting as if it were a sheild. They shook violently, holding each other, whimpering. Anubis cocked a red  
eyebrow at the two.  
"Sekhmet? Who's your friend?"  
Sekhmet grabbed Anubis, then Dais, pulling them down behind the upturned table. Dais wore a look of utter confusion and  
Anubis a look of frustration. He grabbed Sekhmet, who was still holding Seth.  
"First of all, Sekhmet, who the hell is this? And secondly..."  
  
"Sekhmet!! Is something wrong?"  
  
Dais and Anubis looked up and over the kitchen table. They gasped, their eyes widening. A large head, which looked as   
if it were attached to a long pink tube decorated with purple and blue wires, bounced down the stairs, leaving a bloodied   
trail in the carpeting. It lifted itself up, the muscles in its long neck contracting to hold the weight. It couldn't blink  
without eyelids, so it closed the flesh around the eyes until they were covered in a grossly overdone blink.  
It grinned, seeming to recognize the two new faces. Cale's voice greeted them as its back teeth were revealed in a ghastly  
impression of a Cheshire cat's smile.  
"Anubis! Dais! Tell me, is something wrong?"  
  
  
  



	4. Yuli, Our Savior

Chapter III -   
  
Yuli, Our Savior  
  
"Run!! Run faster!" Sekhmet called to Anubis, who was in front of him as they ran down the street. Dais was bringing up   
the rear, checking behind his shoulder every so often. Seth was barely keeping up with the ex-Warlords, who tried to slow down  
so as not to leave him behind. A voice echoed through the streets and up to them.  
"Where are you going? Come back!"  
"He's catching up! Quickly!! Get going!" Dais called ahead to everyone else. Anubis stopped and spotted a back alleyway,  
motioning to the others to follow him.  
"I know my way to the Ronins' from here! Come on!"  
Dais nodded and pulled Seth with him as the voice got closer.  
"You guys!! Is something wrong? Why are you running from me?"  
Seth huffed and stumbled. Sekhmet stopped and picked him up in his arms, carrying him. He spoke to Seth in a soft tone of  
voice that he never knew he had.  
"We've got to get through this. Don't give up now."  
  
Rowen looked at his watch again, and then at the clock on the wall above the T.V.   
"They're late." he said.  
Mia looked at him from her seat on the couch. She frowned.  
"Did you give them a time?"  
"Well....uh....no, not really."  
Mia let out a frustrated sigh. "Then they can't be late!"  
Rowen looked at the floor around his feet. He sighed and looked up at the clock again. Sai looked at the street from his  
perch near a window. Kento and Ryo were having a staring contest and Yuli was upstairs sleeping. Ryo narrowed his eyes and   
Kento blinked.  
"I won!" Ryo declared.  
Rowen huffed. "That's nice, Ryo..."  
Sai gave a small noise of confusion and got up from the windowsill. He started to back up. Kento looked at him and tilted  
his head in wonder.  
"Sai? Buddy? Whatza matter?"  
"Someone's coming..."  
  
"Go! Go! Go!" Anubis skidded around a last corner before running across Mia's front lawn. He stopped in front of the large  
oak doors before turning around to wave the others into the stoop. Dais huffed and Seth wheezed as they stood on the stoop to   
rest. They heard the voice again.  
"I see you!!"  
Anubis gasped and started pounding on the door as Sekhmet ran up to them, chased by the head.   
"How can it reach THIS far?!"  
"I don't care!! Help me out!!"  
  
Mia gasped and ran to the door, hearing yelling and desperate pounding on the other side. She opened it and was nearly   
drowned in a sea of bodies that came flying through the threshold. Someone she didn't recognize landed at her feet as the three  
remaining ex-Warlords slammed the door shut behind them, panting.  
"What....in the world?!"  
Dais shushed her with a finger to his lips. Mia and the rest of the Ronins heard a strange voice.  
"I still see you!!"  
Sekhmet gulped loudly as Anubis turned very pale.  
Mia stood up, her hands on her hips. "I demand to know what's going on!"  
Anubis pointed up at the arched window above the door. She and the other Ronins looked up at it to see a face that looked  
like it had been turned inside out. It grinned its ivory white teeth at them, looking down below it, through the window. It  
spoke to them again, in a sing-song voice.   
"I see you!! Come out, come out, wherever you are!!"  
The three ex-Warlords and the newcomer stilled, barely breathing. The Ronins gasped, backing up from the window. The head  
frowned, its flesh around its eyes contorting to try and imitate a blink. It tilted, looking at Sai, then to Kento, and then  
lastly, Ryo.  
"Let's see...."  
Anubis mouthed words quietly to Mia and the others.  
'It wants us, not you. Don't make it angry!'  
Rowen mouthed back. 'What IS that? Why does it want you?'  
Dais answered. 'We don't know. It just...appeared! We can't find Cale, either. Have you seen him?'  
Sai shook his head.   
Through the armor link, Rowen asked Ryo, 'Do you think this has anything to do with Sage's disappearance?'  
'I dunno. You got me.'  
Sai's voice broke in unexpectedly as the head began slamming itself against the window in hopes to break it. The slamming  
ceased when it almost broke the glass. Sai sounded very nervous.  
'Let's figure out how to make that...that THING go away first!'  
The head growled, moving away from the window until it was no longer seen. Anubis and the other ex-Warlords breathed a  
sigh of relief and walked away from the door. Seth got up from his place on the floor, walking over to the couch. The Ronins   
relaxed visibly and sat down in other places as well.   
Rowen spoke after a heavy silence. "Is it.....gone?"  
Sekhmet shook his head. "I hope so."  
"Oh, Sekhmet..." a voice cooed from behind the front door, "you never told me what was wrong, now did you?"  
The head burst through the oak of the door to track blood and burst veins through the carpeting. It roared, eyes widening  
into a look of pure demonic rage. It slithered up to Sekhmet, who had fallen from his place on the couch to back up against the   
television. In one fluid movement, it appeared in front of his face.  
"Sekhmet? What's wrong?" it asked quietly.  
Sekhmet shook violently. He gulped as it growled with impatience.  
"Something's wrong. What is it?"  
  
"Savage beast. Leave here at once! There is no need for you here! Master will come for you later!" another voice was heard  
coming down the stairs behind the head. It turned around, facing Yuli.  
It tilted, asking a silent question. Yuli huffed, annoyed.  
"Leave here at once, I said! Master will come for you later! You WILL get what is coming to you!"  
It growled, slithering up to Yuli, challenging him. Yuli smirked, laughing in a high-pitched, boyish laugh, raising his  
small hand in the air. Several short squeals and squeaks was heard from behind him, up the stairs. A few small pairs of black   
eyes with red irises appeared through the gloom up the stairwell. Shriveled beings of pure black, leathery skin bounded down   
the stairs in droves, squealing like savage demons. They were small and hairless, much like shriveled babies. They crawled around  
Yuli, writhing in a pile at his feet.  
"Leave." Yuli breathed a slow command.  
It growled again, its face twisting into an expression of disgust. It wouldn't back away, though. It roared and launched  
itself at Yuli. Sekhmet saw and lept to the top of the couch in a standing position, hissing. He shot acidic venom from his fangs  
at the back of the head. The sound of sizzling flesh and the roaring of the pained apparition filled the room. It twisted and  
contorted on the floor before being sucked out of the door.  
Sekhmet sighed heavily and sat down on the couch, watching Yuli. Yuli smirked at him, tilting his head.  
"That was very kind of you, demon one. I did not need assistance, though, but your efforts did prove useful in the end."  
Sekhmet's eyes rolled and he passed out, in a semi-sitting position, on the couch.  
  
"Sekhmet? Sekhmet! Wake up!!" Anubis shook his comrade's shoulders in an attempt to wake him. Sekhmet grumbled.  
"I dun wanna go to school, Mommy...."  
Dais smiled. "He's going to be okay."  
Rowen breathed a brief sigh of relief. Sai sat back in his armchair and Ryo leaned back against White Blaze, who was   
downstairs only because Yuli had been acting so strangely. Kento grumbled and walked away from the group of ex-Warlords to go   
sit by his friend. Seth sat next to Sekhmet, who was beginning to wake up. Ryo looked at him curiously.  
"So, you the new Warlord-in-training or what?"  
Seth scrunched his eyebrows together. "What...?"  
Sekhmet shook his head to clear his dizziness. He huffed. "We're not training any new Warlords. It's a long story, you   
see. A very long and complicated story..."  
Mia looked at her front door and cringed. "This isn't good. Start explaining!"  
The newly-formed quartet sighed in unison.  
  
Rowen shook his head. They'd sat through three hours' worth of conversation, each group explaining what had happened to   
one member of the group and the consequences of that disappearence. Anubis sighed.  
"I must say that this is an interesting predicament..."  
Sai nodded in agreement. "And all of this the day before Sage's birthday!"  
Dais' eye widened. "You're serious? Tomorrow is Sage's birthday?"  
"Yes, why?"  
The silver haired ex-Warlord went silent. Sekhmet continued for him. "Tomorrow is Cale's anniversary."  
The Ronins looked confused. Ryo asked, "Anniversary of what?"  
"Finding his armor."  
Ryo quieted. Mia turned from examining her destroyed front door. "Why is all of this happening now?"  
Rowen shook his head. "I don't know..."  
Sai snapped his head up from intense thinking. He smiled. "Do you think Arthur may be able to help us? Do you guys think  
he's still at the church? Should we go check?"  
The Ronins and Mia nodded. Sekhmet looked confused.  
"Who's Arthur? Where're we going?"  
Sai laughed. "Weren't you paying attention? Let's go! I'll explain it on the way!"  
Sekhmet grumbled, following Sai and the others out into the driveway.  
  
Yuli peered out of the window in his room, surrounded by the black-and-red-eyed creatures. There were possibly hundreds   
of them, all in a large mass towards the back of the room, away from the sunlight. They hissed as they watched the sun go down   
in the distance.  
Yuli turned to them, the green van pulling out of the driveway below him.  
"Hush. Master will come for us soon." 


End file.
